Role in IT decision-making process:Align Business & IT GoalsCreate IT StrategyDetermine IT NeedsManage Vendor RelationshipsEvaluate/Specify Brands or VendorsOther RoleAuthorize PurchasesNot Involved

Work Phone:

Company:

Company Size:

Industry:

Street Address

City:

Zip/postal code

State/Province:

Country:

Occasionally, we send subscribers special offers from select partners. Would you like to receive these special partner offers via e-mail?YesNo

Your registration with Eweek will include the following free email newsletter(s):News & Views

By submitting your wireless number, you agree that eWEEK, its related properties, and vendor partners providing content you view may contact you using contact center technology. Your consent is not required to view content or use site features.

By clicking on the "Register" button below, I agree that I have carefully read the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy and I agree to be legally bound by all such terms.

Google recently released a developer version of its much-talked-about Chrome OS. While this is an extremely bare-bones release, even for a developer version, it does provide an interesting look into an operating system that assumes nearly everything will take place on the Web and in a browser. This release includes a couple of unique Chrome OS features, such as an Applications screen, but, for the most part, the user experience is identical to using the Chrome Web browser.

2 of 13

Login Screen

Upon launching Chrome OS, users are presented with a login screen. Any existing Gmail account will work to launch the Chrome OS.

3 of 13

Gmail

Not surprisingly, the main application within Chrome OS is Gmail.

4 of 13

Applications Tab

One thing that is unique in Chrome OS is the Applications tab. From here, users can launch many Web-based applications.

5 of 13

Been There, Done That

If you've used the Google Chrome Web browser, then you've already seen about 90 percent of the Chrome OS interface.

6 of 13

Calculator

One of the only native apps currently on Chrome OS is this basic calculator.

7 of 13

Boxed In

While most applications in Chrome OS appear in browser tabs, the calculator displays as a lower-right box when minimized.

8 of 13

Create Application Shortcut

In Chrome OS, the Create Application shortcut gives users the option to add any Web application to the Chrome OS Applications menu. However, in my tests of the developer version, I was unable to successfully do this.

9 of 13

Battery Life

A pop-up window in the upper right-hand window of Chrome OS provides information on system battery life.

Net Connections

Tools Menu

The third pop-up menu in the upper right-hand corner launches a menu that is currently identical to the Tools menu in the Chrome Web browser.

12 of 13

System Settings

Within the Options menu item is the Chromium OS tab, which provides very basic system settings options.

13 of 13

Same Old Same Old

The other Options menu items are the same as those in the Chrome Web browser. Here, you can change the search engine to Bing or Yahoo, but you can't change the browser. (Right now, it looks like Chrome will be the only browser available for Chrome OS.)